GALESVILLE RESERVIOR

In all the years I've lived in the area, I've never been to the Galesvillereservoir.
If I was a true sort of a blogger I'd read all of the signs around the reservoir and had some history and statistics to quote. Sorry, that's not me. I like pretty pics.
Once you pass the lake the road turns into this as it crosses a small set of mountains and falls down into the South Umpqua watershed where it eventually comes out on hiway 227, also called the Trail- Tiller hiway.
If you've got a day its a very nice drive and really not all that far to go .

OCTOBER BLUE

Sunset beach again.
Look at that blue sky, in October no less, can't beat that!

SUNSET

A photo from our daytrip to Coos Bay.
Sunset State Park.

Road trip today, not really a pleasure trip, but we'll enjoy it anyway.
We gotta go to Coos Bay to get grandma some groceries. Her fridge died and everything spoiled, altho the oldest stepson is over there he's unavailable to grandma. It's a shame, I'd say we raised him better than that, except that we really didn't raise him, his dad did.
Actually, both boys seem to have forgotten that they even have family, that is until they need money or some other help. I may sound upset with them, I'm not, I remember being exactly the same way. It seems to be part of growing up.
Anyway, YEAH, for day trips!

Drive

You may have noticed both Ms.Lea and my blogs have motive names, guess why? Yep, we like to go for a ride.
Last Tuesday we went up to a local lookout that I had never been up to, it's called Onion, Mountain. I was rather disappointed, albeit unsurprised to find out that they close the gate at the top of the road so you can't get there by car. Normally not a PROBLEM. This time it was. It was 6 p.m. by the time we got there and getting ready to be dark, so we didn't want to hike up. I didn't get to see the view from the top, nothing new for me!
I did get to see some other vistas tho. If you'll look for the white smudge of buildings in the distance. That's Merlin, home to Ms. Lea and myself and the menagerie. Kind of a cool sunset view, I think.

BABY IN A DISH

Oh oh, Baby in a dish.
We blew it! When you moved here, we'd had the males fixed, but being that the females are a lot more to have spayed, we put that off. We got here and in a months time it was apparent that there was a male somewhere around, as a couple of the females began to fill out.
So here we are six months later rehoming kittens.
It's not all bad, we only have four left to go, and they've been a hell of a lot of fun to watch.
For instance here's a photo of a kitten trying to alert me to the fact that they're water dish was empty.
Communication!

We took a break from building coops!
Pretended I was listening and being a good dog!! Went for a long ride to the Redwoods and Played in the Water!!


Life is Good........

WHAT TO SAY... WHAT TO SAY...

So what I want to know is, is messing around with my playlist .. does it count as a posting? Probably not. Oh well, guess I'll have to write a little sumpin', huh?
O.k. but don't blame me cause you heard it all before. Actually I'm fascinated by the evolution of the chicken coops, every one is different and they just seem to get more sophisticated as they progress.
I sold two today. I'm enjoying this. Maybe I could do this for a living. wouldn't that be nice?

FIRE SEASON

Here we go again, ladies and gentlemen.
Fourth of July and the fireworks have started. According to the local news there are two fires going, one near the freeway between Medford and Ashland, and one at the biomass one facility in White city.
Here in Merlin we are some ways away yet it's smoky and overcast, unpleasant for those with breathing problems and just plain an annoyance for those of us who don't.
That's my bitch for the day!

ROCKY POINT REMEMBRANCE

Bridge to the future

GOLD HILL — The Rock Point Bridge will be closed for five months beginning late this summer or early fall when the historic structure undergoes intensive refurbishing,...
Photo and headline courtesy of the Medford Mail Tribune.
Whatever you do, do not repeat this story to your children, I'd rather not be responsible.


I was 13, and had gotten myself a job at the horse farm down the road. Arabians, meaner'n hell, as we rancher folk would say. Anyhow, it was a after school job, so I'd ride the bus to work, muck out stalls for two hours, $1.65 an hour as I recall. A nasty dirty smelly job, someone had to do it though and I wanted my Levi 501's, my mom wouldn't buy them for me, to expensive, so I took the job. After work, the river was right there, so I'd generally take a short dip to cool off before I started off on my 4 mile walk home.
Now all the big kids, everyone knew jumped off the bridges in town, not me though, I was a good boy and my mom did not approve of children jumping from bridges. In truth I was afraid of heights, but the mom excuse was easier on the pride. Peer pressure. It finally got me. Although I tried to stay away from the older boys who worked at the ranch because they chewed tobacco and drank stolen beer( they'd already gotten me sick with the chew and laughed while I threw up) I got trapped into going with them to Rocky Point to swim instead of the usual spot at the Ben Hur park, where I usually went.
Needless to say, within probably 5 minutes they had me standing outside the guard rail looking down over 35 feet at the surface of the water. I use the word surface because that's what it looked like to me, a hard surface. Turns out, it can be a very hard surface. You see you're just supposed to step away, not push away. If you push away there's a chance your upper body could begin to fall forward, which means that your chest and face will feel some impact on arriving at the water, impact enough to leave some pretty nasty bruises, telltale bruises. Mother was aghast. Father was appalled. I was grounded and lost my job. So unfair. In fact, it was so unfair, that by the time I was 18, I'd already jumped a few times from the railway trestle, 80 feet.


The union newsletter says that a union company was awarded the contract to refurbish the old bridge. I SURE WOULD LIKE TO WORK ON THAT ONE!!!

The coming Eclipse, all in all, is a most productive eclipse. Now the coming Solar Eclipse is another story entirely, since it puts the Grand Irrationality in play in a major way while shutting down elements of our past we've been trying to perpetuate that no longer give us the nourishment we want or need. Family systems and other elements of our past will disintegrate as we fulfill the promise of whatever personality integration we're striving for. More on that in a week or so!
from the Aquarius Papers

AFRAID OF THE DARK?

Do you know an American? Bulldog that is? Well by all means meet Ms. Trinity. She's 110 pounds of spit and vinegar, right? Wrong! ms. Trinity has a routine. Every evening just at sunset my big tough American Bulldog starts to bark shrilly to be put to bed, why?
She's afraid of the dark!

WHERE I'VE BEEN !

So, nearly every night I watch Ms. Lea, taking care
of her nightly communication fix with her peeps,
then nearly every night she does a little something
with her blog, FOUR MILES TO NOWHERE.
Then there's me. Home all day long. Nothin' to do, you would think that I'd have posted everyday, right? Boring! It's just so... Boring!
Actually, the deal with the chicken coops has turned into a full time job, between posting the ads on Craigslist and replying to emails, then of course silly stuff like actually building and delivering them,well, what was a fun little side line is tiring me out!


Anyway, here are some pics of some of my products.
First is a photo of my large coop. For some reason it's the one that everyone likes.
The bottom picture is of a rabbit hutch that some people requested of me around the first of May. The design part takes me a while to figure out, so it took me a couple of months to build. The guy came and picked it up today, he was very pleased. That pleases me, and that's why I do it.....

Lucky Moth

Don't quite know how I missed it, but I must have walked over this moth on the front porch stoop a dozen times before I finally noticed it. Glad it wasn't a rattlesnake!

DEPRESSED? TAKE 5 KITTENS AND CALL ME

I don't care how much you hate cats, nobody can resist kittens. There's nothing quite as entertaining as a litter of kittens to brighten your day.
However, if you're trying to get something done, forget it! They're under foot, into everything, pestering the dog and getting him upset, a general nuisance!
Anyway, the real question is, do you want 'em?

IT'S A HARD LIFE!

Yep, It's a daily thing. I wake up in the a.m. with my jaw already clenched. The gentle tap tap tap at the back of my head that is the beginning of a tension headache. Where's it all gonna' end? Who knows?
What I do know, is that when things get truly overwhelming all I have to do is look at the dog.

NOW THAT'S A TOUGH LIFE !!!

THE FINAL ANALYSIS

So here's the final product on the way to it's home. What do you think for a hundred bucks? I calculated it out and figured that I made about three dollars an hour. Oh well, it actually got me at least one more job, so I guess, aside from the fact that, that hundred bucks came in handy, it was worth it!

The other part of this puzzle is that, having not worked in so long I had really begun to feel like I was some sort of a bum. Consequently, when the landlord came down to pick on me, I was a lot more bothered by it than I would normally have been. Having finished that small project, gotten it delivered, and getting more work off it though word of mouth, I'm feeling much more like my old self. Got some of the old pride back. Feels good! In the end Ms. Lea and I just decided that come hell or high water we are just going to have to move. Of course, it didn't hurt that the property manager found us another place. It's maybe not in as quite as nice an area, but it's still out in the woods, and the landlord is in California. YEAH!!!
Say a prayer for us though, cause it's not a done deal yet! Whatever the case we're done here!
And that's the FINAL ANALYSIS!!!

FENDING FOR OURSELVES

So Wednesday I get a call from the union hall, the heart begins to speed up, blood pressure rises, adrenaline starts to tickle my brain, but wait, it's Wednesday, job calls are almost always on Thursday or Friday, hmmm.
There's a forklift training class being offered for Friday and Saturday, do you want to come? Well, my card is good for another year, but, the classes are from 7 am. to 3:30 pm., that means I'm out of the house and away from the prying eyes of the landlord for at least 10 hours, when you figure in the drive. Hell yeah I'm coming!!
Unfortunately, I got out a little early Saturday and got home at 1 pm, and was immediately heartattacked.
Now the spell check says that heartattacked is not a word. I beg to differ, it's just a word that most people don't hear used. It's a construction site word. What happens is this, you'll be working along on a wall form or some thing and you're two days from completion, when the Foreman comes around and says, " I just ordered concrete for that wall, it'll be here right after lunch." That's being heartattacked!!
The concrete is not really on it's way, it's just his way of saying that you're taking longer than he thinks you should.
My landlord is playing the same game. He's been here to inspect the property 3 times already this month and now I get another notice that he wants to come look around the 13th, again. The issue is fire season starts in June and he gave me a long list of things that need to be done before that comes about.
I'm not getting them done fast enough for him, the funny thing is, I can't remember seeing his name on a paycheck anywhere. In fact, I'm paying him for the privilege of being driven insane by his bullshit!!!
I guess there are those who are unfamiliar with the concept of commerce. What ever happened to the adage that the customer is always right. Me, being the renter, being the customer? Shouldn't he be working for me? not the other way around?
I've got my own stuff to do, I actually got about 6 orders off of Craigslist for chicken coops, and even though I'm actually making cents for the labor I'm putting in, it feels good to be doing some thing worthwhile, and making a few dollars to boot. Besides that, I think when these coops are done and I post pictures on C/L, I'll probably get even more orders. Although, at some point the price is going to have to go up, due to the fact that I'm running out of the scrounged materials that I had on hand.
As for the landlord, I read the rental contract, all I'm required to do, to to mow and water the lawn and maintain the yard within reason. I'm betting that the court won't see weed eating 5 acres as, "within reason." So he can go ahead and show up the 13th, and evict me if he wants, I'm done jumping through his stupid hoops. In fact, I'm gonna start calling the property manager every time I see him standing at the end of my driveway watching what I'm doing. I pay him to rent the place for myself and my family not to share it with him.
I'm going to have to be very careful now as I step down off my soapbox, so's I don't sprain an ankle or break a leg, that would make it very hard to continue fending for myself, eh?

WORK WORK WORK

This is what I did today.

















This is what I wanted to do today!!!

FREEWAYS DOG BLOG

Freeway is deep deep in thought. He's considering doing NaBloPoMo for April.



Growing up, hmmm, let me think....

OF JOY AND SPRING

Now really how can you even think of separating the terms joy and spring. I do though, because although, it was warm and mostly sunny yesterday, I didn't make it out of the house.
It was just another bad bad week for me.
We took our little day trip to Eugene last Sunday and like the little spoiled baby I can sometimes be, I insisted on staying in the truck the whole day.
Well, actually, I did get out to take Freeway for a walk with Ms. Lea on the trail in the lower pic that I posted on Monday. Unfortunately, I was in such a rotten mood that I even forgot to get the camera out of the truck to take pictures on our little walk and had to resort to finding a similar
bridge in the same park we walked
in, from the Internet. Which is a shame as the
bridge that we actually crossed was much
prettier.

Anyway, don't ask why, 'cause I really couldn't say, but I had a lousy week! Today though?
BETTER, MUCH BETTER!

Some really good stuff has been happening lately that really has made me feel better.
Ms.Lea and I went into the feed store last week for chicken, dog and cat food, and when we walked past their chicken display, which was all set up for chicks, it was empty. So we asked what had happened, they said they had received 700 chicks and sold out in 2 days.
That started me thinking that it seems like a lot of people are thinking that maybe a little bit more self sufficiency might be a good thing.
We've been thinking so for a few years now.
Then I got on craigslist and was looking in the wanted section and found 3 different adds for folks looking for chicken coops. Turns out that I have a bit of experience at building very cheap chicken coops. The Grange wants big bucks for theirs, I mean, like hundreds of dollars for them. I'm figuring that folks are trying to find a way to save some money, not spend hundreds just for eggs, right? So I took some pictures of some of the ones I've built and wrote up a little add to that effect and posted it on craigslist and I'll be damned if I didn't get 5 emails inside of a day. I suddenly went from being a man of leisure, to a very busy puppy indeed! YIPEE!!!

I think I've mentioned that I'm an alcoholic in recovery. Well, quitting smoking has brought back a few of the issues that I had when I first quit drinking. I always had certain rituals, with both my drinking and smoking, that they call triggers. One of those triggers, is that if I am out doors, say in the garage, or working in the yard, I'd want to be drinking
or smoking. So, what happens then, is that when I go to do those things, I get cravings for either the alcohol or
tobacco. With the case of the tobacco,
I'm finding getting past that stage, to
be very hard. So, last night I got my
shit together and went to my local
AA meeting. I'm ashamed to say, that, that is not usually my first response when I'm having a hard time coping.
What can I say, I'm an independent bastard. However, there are those times when just getting together to curse the fates that gave us our proclivities, really seems to help! That was certainly the case last night! I like to go to the local men's meeting, where the guys feel free to cuss and swear, and maybe, we'll even get around to talking about some of the issues that we all share. In truth, it's been probobly more than a year since I went to that particular meeting, and although it had been that long, all the same guys were there and they treated me like I'd never missed a meeting at all. VERY VERY COOL! I enjoyed it to say the least.
Of course, the fact that it's 70 degrees and beautiful out side doesn't hurt either. It's so gorgeous that I had to take some time to take some pics of some of the wild flowers we've got coming up all over the yard. Before the landlord comes down and points out that they're over 4 inches tall and must be mowed down so that they're not a fire hazard. DEEP SIGH!!!
Oh well. For now all is good. There is joy!! It's finally SPRING!!

ROAD TRIP

Sunday

ONE WEEK

O.k. so it's been a week, I'm certainly ready for a break from the craving, and am extremely tired of chewing this stupid gum.
It doesn't seem to matter which brand or flavor you buy, it's all nasty. Ohhh I hear you all saying,"Not as nasty as cigarettes!". Be that as it may, I still miss 'em.
I ran out of gum day before yesterday, well, actually it was a bad day altogether, what with being out of work for so long, with the landlord standing at the end of the driveway watching everything I do, and in general the uncaring state of the cosmos, it was a bad day. I really wanted a smoke. I didn't though, I roughed it out with my NICCORETTE. I made it completely through the day until about 11:00 pm, when I discovered that I was out of gum. OOH- NOOO!!!! Not good at all. One of my habits was to go out on the porch and have a cig right before turning in. It's just a habit right? wrong!!! I was not able to sleep that night. Now you're asking "Why not go to the store and get some more?" The simple answer is, I had no money, but, my unemployment checks are direct deposited and usually hit the bank about4 or 5 am. So I watched the bank account all night and when the money showed up at 4:30, I got dressed, and drove the 10 miles into town to the 24 hour Walgreen's and bought...
Ya. On the way in I was determined to end this misery and buy cigarettes. Imagine my surprise when I found myself at the counter with another box of gum in my hand. WOW!! I also had a diet Pepsi and some sleep support caps. I finally managed to get to sleep at around 6:30 am. Ms. Lea got up at 7, and I moved from the couch to the bed. ( on sleepless nights I occupy the couch in the hopes that I won't keep her up all night as well) On finally, painfully, slowly rising, at about 9:30, Ms. Lea informed me that she had called off our day trip to Eugene, and she wasn't happy about it. It seems that, in my agitation, I had kept her up as well. oops...
How's that for obsessed? Anyhow, trips rescheduled for Lea's next day off, Sunday. In the meantime I shouldn't be so whiney, it isobviously getting easier, otherwise, I think I would have come home with cigarettes instead of this infernal gum. Does that sound like Gratitude? My Angel card was gratitude today, maybe I need to spend some more time in contemplation...

380 miles, round trip. It's a road trip tomorrow.
Destination: Eugene, Oregon.
Purpose: look 4 work. Relaxation.
Bye Bye..

LAP OF LUXURY

It's a horrible rainy windy day outside, I'm chewing mint flavored NICORETTE, we're out of coffee and tea, and this is what I have to contend with........

TRANSFORMATION

TRANSFORMATION. What the hell does that mean? While I find the processes of spirituality intriguing, it's also extremely baffling.
In rehab they encourage you to reach for your spiritual side, to pray and rely on your higher power. Touchy feely stuff to individuals who for the most part have come face to face with the harder side of life.
I'm a very pragmatic person, to believe is not a natural part of my nature, yet, whether it's my wives influence, or some buried part of my persona, there is a part of me that wants to believe. That's why even though I scoff, I look at things like the Angel cards and horoscopes,etc..
I guess, basically, what it boils down to, is looking for hope! It's tough times, turn on the news on the t.v.( if you still have it, I don't) Read the headlines on the internet, it'll all drag you down!
I think that's why a majority of the U.S.A. voted for change, they wanted hope, someone sincere that they could believe in. Yet the media has pretty much destroyed that for most of us. You'd definitely be a diehard believer to be hanging on to any hope from that quarter. Which is not to say that it's not possible, it's just that whatever happens the media will always put a bad spin on it. We would not want Americans to be getting their heads above water, would we?
O.k. I'm ranting!
Anyway when I had a real job, what I always wanted to do, was to start a business in my garage making things like the little Myrtle wood mantle clock you see to the right. This particular little project actually took me about two weeks to finish. It's made from three pieces of 1/2 inch Myrtle wood that I glued together, then used the bandsaw to cut out the shape, then sanded, sanded, sanded until I got the final shape exactly what I wanted. Finally, I applied several coats of Carnuba wax and buffed it in order to achieve a natural satin finish.
The final product is about 7 inches long, 4 1/2 inches high and 2 inches deep. I'd like to sell this style of clock for $35.00 plus shipping. If you'd like one leave a comment on my blog or send me a email at ddgalinas@gmail.com
It's kinda funny, I feel bad about advertising my stuff on my blog, because it almost feels sacreligious turning Pb4ugo into a commercial site, but that's not going to happen. I think what I'll do is create another blog for my woodworking. How's that? I feel better.
Adventure. Purification. Transformation. Those were my Angel cards for the last three days. I've quit drinking, am quitting smoking, have been off work longer than I ever have before, maybe the cards are right? Maybe, it is time to transform myself, huh?

OF ADDICTION AND PURIFICATION

I know a little something about it. The 26th day of March will be 30 months in recovery from alcoholism, for me. This is the 3rd time I've quit drinking, the 1st time lasted for 5 years. Last time it was maybe a little over a year. It was my choice the 1st time and this last time, The middle time, well curiously enough, that was enforced by the state of Oregon.

DON'T! drink and drive! they will catch you!

It does seem to stick better when its your own decision. However, its not really that much easier, you still have the cravings, you still have your triggers. All that having been said, I still feel like quitting drinking is much easier than quitting smoking. A lot of my friends feel the same way.
With alcohol, after the first 10 or so days the craving is really reduced, actually even after the first day. The hardest part with alcoholism, for me, is the thought that I can never ever drink again. I know that it must seem weird to you normies, you never give it a second thought, but to an alcoholic, that thought engenders panic, yes, even after 30 months.
That's why an alcoholic has to take life, one day at a time! Smoking seems to be different,though, you have to be able to look forward to the health benefits, you've got to look forward to a diminished craving, or you'll go nuts and never make it.
With alcohol, you'll probably have 10 or 20 cravings the first day, tapering down with each successive day that you remain sober. Tobacco? Constant!
This is my third time for cigarettes. The first time I lasted ten days, then three weeks. In both previous cases, I don't remember any appreciable relief in those time periods. Now, I could not tell you, if that's because of addiction to nicotine or the veracity of habit. I'm just not sure. I do know that its damned uncomfortable and there is absolutely.... NO RELIEF!!!
So, my Angel card for the day? PURIFICATION
Wha'd'ya think?

For anybody unfamiliar with them, these are Angel cards. Ms. Lea introduced them to me shortly after we started dating.
As I understand it, the way it works is, keeping your eyes closed or blindfolded or something or the other, you draw a card, without looking to see which one you're choosing, they're all supposed to be face down so you won't know. But I, not wanting to leave any thing to chance, have marked the back of a few of the more choice ones, like power and riches, just to make sure that I get a good one once in a while.
Anyway, the way it work is you draw a card, then you sit down in a quiet place, preferably, with some incense burning( we prefer Nagchampa) and you contemplate the thought on the card, therefore, placing that thought foremost in your mind for the day. In this manner, hopefully, influencing the Fates that you should have, say, a inspirational, playful, delightful day.
The post I wrote on March 8th was titled Healing. That was the Angel card, that I drew that a.m., I'm pretty sure, that I probably wouldn't have called Sunday a healing day. I was still very angry from all the stuff that's been going on, so... Although, I guess it coulda been worse ....

Adventure. For two days in a row, I've drawn the adventure card.
Now, let me see if I can figure out how to apply adventure to yesterday. The first thing we did yesterday a.m. was run 4 yards of garbage to the dump, Adventuresome?
Then I ran stepson to his job and dropped him off, headed home , picked up Ms. Lea, headed to town so she could get her nails done. Went to the bread outlet for stale bread for livestock, went to Kinko's to fax a w2 request form off to one of last years employers. Adventuresome?
My big adventure yesterday? Buying cigarettes! They went up a whole dollar all at once! wow!
I didn't buy them, I decided to quit!

So, I bet you can guess what the big Adventure for today is. My first day of quitting!
( my god that was a long way to go just to get to that last line)
THE ADVENTURE BEGINS!!!
WISH ME LUCK!!!

HEALING

I've had several very very stressful days, and am seriously in need of some down time.
Profound potatoes and a glissade or two sounds like just my thing!
http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/travel/08Explorer.html

LETTER TO THE LANDLORD

Ms. Lea and I really like the place we live. You've seen some of the pictures, its a very pretty area in a quiet little valley. At night, when the traffic on the road below us slows down, we can hear the sound of the river running on the other side of the road, we can hear coyotes, owls, foxes and frogs.
Its peaceful.
But, we rent!
Whats more is the property manager is, to say the least, extremely by the book!
Lea and I have owned two homes in the last ten years. However, when we sold the last one in 2003-2004, even though we actually made $35,000 on the sale, most of the money went to pay off
bills. We did not have enough left to make the kind of down payment that we wanted to. We knew we wanted to be out here in the Applegate valley. We also knew that we'd have to have fairly low house payments in order to get by when I was laid off. It just wasn't feasible, so we opted to rent.
Neither of us have ever had a problem renting. Never saw the landlord or the property manager. When it came time to move on we cleaned and left the place spotless. Everyone was happy!
Here, the landlord is not happy, the property manager is not happy. You see since I was laid off, we have not been able to put together the rent money until the second week of the month. In all of the places I've lived before it was not and issue. It is here. Its become a big issue, they want us out! We have tried working with them, but the conversations have become increasingly personal.
Ms. Lea has been a executive assistant for years, she is all about the business. So when the landlord makes comments about what time the garage door opens as a reference to what time I get out of bed, she is offended and incensed. She feels that is an invasion of her privacy. Like in the 1st house we lived in, where the neighbor would stand at the fence and peep through the bushes at us. I'm going to have to go with her on this one.(naturally) Not only is the garage door not a good indicator of when I got up, ( I usually spend a couple of hours every morning on the computer, checking email, looking for a job, silly stuff. You know?!) but, how dare you make comment on it? what bearing does that have on our business relationship?
Lea asked me what is it with people today,? It seems like more and more of our personal lives are under scrutiny on a daily basis. I can understand late rent, what I can't understand is, comments about how late I sleep, comments about why I don't go hang drywall for a living, comments about whether I think I should of turned down the job that was offered to me last June, that was three hours away. What bearing does this all have on the business at hand? Its all a little too personal! It seems to me that they are trying to get Lea angry with me, on the mistaken assumption that I'm lazy.
I'll tell you kids, not going to happen!!!
Ms. Lea and I have been though a hell of a lot in our ten tears together. Ms. Lea was there when I worked 7-12's and hour and a half away from our home, for three months solid. We even moved during that time. She watched me tear the porch roof off our 1st house and rebuild a beautiful veranda like structure, from the ground up, in one weekend. Lea and I have moved ourselves 5 times in 10 years, without a whole lot of help, Clampat ( sp. as in ole Jed) style. Truck and trailer. One load at a time. Thick and thin. We've been there, DONE THAT!
Landlords, property managers, its business! Use your internal dialog. Keep the disparaging and personal remarks to yourselves!
To you kinder hearted souls, PRAY FOR US! Maybe not this month or next, but here soon,
we'll be back on the road, Clampat style, and we'll need a roof.
B.T.W. If you could say a few words about a job, that would be appreciated too!
There, I'm done venting.
Thank you ever so much!!!!!!!!!!!

ORPINGTON HEN

1. 

It rained today. It was a cold cold rain. The kind of rain that tells a guy that we're not through with winter yet. In fact, the snow level is only a couple hundred feet above the house and the snow line clings to the hills like a bathtub ring. I hate the rain and I'm sick of winter.
I had high hopes for March this year, but, I can already tell that it's going to be one of those years. Here in the rolling hills of Southern Oregon, we have those years when it snows one last time, usually the fist week of April. So...
In order to keep from hanging myself from the living room light fixture, I have to look at the small things to get a laugh.

When we first got chickens we thought we were getting them for eggs. Nope, it seems our animal husbandry is not up to snuff, because, we just don't seem to get that many. They are however good for a few laughs.
Turns out that the chickens don't much appreciate the rain either. This one resourceful little Orpington hen discovered that not only is it dry on the porch, but, there's little scraps of cat food and birdseed on the porch, as well.
Later when we thought we'd got them all in, this is what we found.
Awesome!! I've lived and laughed through another day. Let's keep our hopes high for tomorrow!!!

LABOR AND MORE LABOR

The garage is a mess. So after trying to do some very trying clerical work, and being totally ineffective at it, I decided Stepson ( B.T.W. Stepson is meant, by no means, as a derogative term, its just to preserve his anonymity) and I would do something we know how to do, that is, get in and work like dogs. What you see here is sort of a after, before type picture.
We'd already picked up the garbage and swept when this pic was taken.
The objective is, beside helping us feel that we did something worthwhile, to provide Other ( this may be taken disparagingly, if you choose) with a room of his own. Yes, it may be in the garage but its a dry roof and as far as I'm concerned it'll be just fine for him.
The lower picture is a shot of what will become his room. I know it looks kind of small but we'll be adding another two feet on it which will give him approximately 96 square feet, not a lot, however, when you figure that both boys are crammed into probably less than 120 sq. ft. right now, it will give them both a great deal more elbow room.
Tomorrow will be another moving day for us. A friend, who has been living in a 23 ft. motor home, with his two school age sons, has finally been able to get into a house. They're totally stoked and although I'm sick to death of moving other peoples stuff, we're really really happy for them!!
The stuff we're moving is stuff that we've been storing for them for a while now and should only take two trips with the pickup truck. Not too bad.
Time to cook Ms. Lea's dinner...

FRUSTRATED

This is me today!!!

DOG TRAINING

We had a long day helping a friend move. I got home and collapsed on the couch, while Ms.Lea posted for the day. In doing research for her post, she came across something that made her smile. However, when she related it to me, I made a negative comment, as is fairly common of me when I'm pooped. So Ms. Lea tells me, "Honey, if you want good things to happen to you, you have to think positively." My reply was, "I don't know how." Her answer?
She said,"you have to tame your mind.
I can't help it. I immediately thought,
"I can't even tame the dog, much less my mind."
This photo is to illustrate my point.
If you look closely there, on the lower left hand corner of the couch, you'll see the back of Freeways head. Now there are a number of things wrong with this picture.
I'll enumerate:
1) The dog is not even supposed to be in the house.
2) He's not supposed to be on the furniture.
3) He's in my seat.
4) He's watching DIALOGUE on CCTV 9. ( Chinese television)
5) I don't like DIALOGUE, it's too political for me. ( I like TRAVELOGUE and CULTURE EXPRESS)

Obviously, we need some help with the doggy training. He's ruthlessly spoiled.

TRAIN THE DOG

TAME YOUR MIND

THINK HAPPY THOUGHTS
then
MAY GOOD THINGS HAPPEN..........

17/P HOLMES

Here is a picture taken by astrophotogragher Alan Daly. Its the comet 17/P Holmes, which has amazed astronomers by suddenly flashing us.
Oh, don't worry, its not aliens, apparently its a natural phenomenon caused by its proximity to the sun. Its just that its way brighter than they thought it was going to be, some say, brighter that a supernova.
The cool thing is that, unlike Lulin, Holmes has been visible to the naked eye since July and with the flareup is very bright and still visible on the full moon.
If you are in the northern hemisphere look for Holmes in the Persues constellation. Happy hunting...

FLOCKING

Interesting flock, huh?
Ms. Lea and I were out on the porch on morning and the guinea hens had come running over to see if we had bread or bird seed for them. Most of the time we feed them the same layer crumbles that the chickens get, but sometimes, when we can, we'll go to the bread outlet store and get stale bread to feed chicken and ducks and, of course the guinea hens with.
Lea went in and got them some bread and like clock work here come the wild turkey and the cats. You see, some of the cats have figured out that when were throwing food to the guineas, that it's bread and have developed quite a taste for it.
At first there were about five cats there, and lea and I were laughing so hard that I didn't even think of getting out the camera. When it finally occurred to me, I ran into get it but by the time I got set up to take the picture, the turkeys had run most of the cats away, only Tiger, our big tom and Pookie, our big bread eater, were left.
I took about five snaps, then tried to upload them to the desktop so I could share with you, and discovered that the software for the camera had gone faulty. It took us a while but Lea finally found the disk to reload the software. So I reloaded it, it still didn't work right. It took me half the day fiddling with it to finally get it to upload, so now we can share some of the amazing stuff that happens here on the farm. L.O.L....

THE CAMERA'S FIXED. YEAH!!!

Well now, it's been a long arduous task, but I finally got the digital camera back up and functioning.
Of course, you aren't going to get the awesome pictures of comets and such with a Vivitar digital camera, at least, not the one we have!

Ms. Lea and I realized, hey, it's almost March, it's about time for some flowers. Now I realize we might have been a tad ahead of the game, but....
We had the same problem last year, it doesn't seem to matter what kind of flowers we plant, this is what we grow!!!

MORE SCIENCE

While I'm waiting for that call.. I read. I clean house. I look up stuff, like astronomy on the internet.
You may have noticed my interest in the stars by some of my recent posts.

I got the reading bug at about 8 years old. I think it was when my third grade teacher read to the class, A Wrinkle In Time. Remember that book? I guess that I don't really even remember any of the story, otherwise I'd give you a short synopsis just to whet your appetite. Anyway, that got me started. Of course, after that my favorite genre would have to be scifi. Right now I'm reading a fantasy series by Stephen R Donaldson called THE SECOND CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT. I'm on the last book and really enjoying it. Mr. Donaldson is a very descriptive writer. I don't really enjoy wordy books, I get bored with them very quickly! Although the writing in these books is very dense the story is very easy for me to follow. There is one issue though, I have to have the dictionary close when I'm reading because there are a lot of words in these books that I've never read before. I thought that I had a pretty good vocabulary before this.

Anyway, my reading scifi gets me interestd in things like astronomy and other sciences, so I tend to read a lot of scientific articles online, and because I find it fascinating, I like to share.

Last week I posted a little something on the comet Lulin, I found some more stuff on it today.
Monday night will be the best time to see it, however, they're still saying that you'll need to be in a very dark place to see it and will need at least, binoculars.

I'm pretty sure that I won't get to see it, as we're supposed to have some really bad storms coming in, starting tonight thru Tuesday. So I'm posting another picture.

There is another comet that you can see with the naked eye, its called Holmes. Apparently its going thru a offgassing phaze that makes it visible. but that's another story for tomarrow....

STILL waiting for the phone to ring.......................for me!